Container closing device



F. A. DAVID, JR

CONTAINER CLOSING DEVICE Filed May 27, 1954 'IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Arum Tales:

funk/(4. 211/712 we CONTAINER CLOSING DEVICE Frank A. David, Jr., St. Louis, Mo., as'signor, by mesne assignments, to Crown Zelierbach Corporation, San Francisco, Calif., a corporation of Nevada Application May 27, 1954, Serial No. 432,718

6 Claims. (Cl. 53287) This invention appertains to a device for applying closures to a container, and more particularly, to a device for applying closure caps which are provided with a plurality of radially disposed, marginal flaps.

Certain particular types of containers utilize end closure caps which fit onto and engage hollow, tubular body structures. The closure caps of many types of these containers employ marginal, foldably connected flaps which assist in the sealing of the closure member to the con tainer body. Often, the marginal flaps on the closure cap are held in the sealed or closed position by means of suitable banding or strapping means. An example of one particular type of container employing a closure cap with a plurality of side marginal flaps is illustrated in Patent No. 2,214,220, issued to George B. Bea'man on September 10, 1940. While containers of this general type have many advantages, it is often difficult for a single worker to fold the container closure flaps downwardly and maintain them in position as the banding or strapping means is applied. Most often, containers employing the described type of end closure means are formed of solid fibreboard, corrugated fibreboard or other similar bendable materials. The resilient nature of the fibreboard and the like causes the closure flaps to spring upwardly unless firmly held in position by positivemeans.

Various machines have been devised to aid in sealing containers of the type described. Many of these machines employ power'operated heads which simultaneously fold all of the container flaps into position. However, often, the small user of this type container is unable to justify the expense of such complex machinery. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a simple, inexpensive device which may be used on containers of the type described to assist intlie manual closing. and positioning of the closure caps and their connected flaps.

A further object is to provide a device of the type described which may be operated without requiring special skill.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a device of the type described employing a plate member having edge portions having a configuration which may be positioned in registering relation with. the edges of a container closure cap and having freely movablemembers mounted on the panel adjacent the sides thereof which will fall by force of gravity to retain flaps on the closure caps into proper position and alignment.

Another object'is to provide a device which will retain the flaps of a container closure cap into position as suitable banding or strapping means are applied.

In the drawings which form a part of the specification:

Fig. l is a top plan view of an octagonal device employing an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a front, perspective view of the device illustrated in Fig. 1 shown in position on a container having a closure cap with foldably connected side flaps;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged front, fragmentary view of one States Patent Patented June 24, 1958 ice 2. of the retaining members illustrated in the extended and retracted position;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view through section 4-4 of i Fig. 5 is a. fragmentary, vertical view through section 5'-5 of Fig. i. In addition, the device is shown in posi tion on a top closure cap disposed on a tubular container body supported by a mandrel;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary, perspective view of a container body and suitable closure cap therefor of a type which may be closed by the device illustrated; and

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a container supporting mandrel.

A particular preferred embodiment of a closing device A employing this invention is illustrated in its entirety in Figs. 1 and 2. The device comprises a supporting plate" member 10 which, in the particular device illustrated, is

relatively planar in structure. It is contemplated that the particular closing device A will be employed with an walls 13, each having a foldably connected side wall end flap 14. The closure cap 11 consists essentially of a clo sure panel 15 which is dimensioned to fit in registering relation over the tubular body structure 12. The side' margins of the closure panel 15 are provided with foldably connected closure flaps 16 which, in turn, are pro vided with closure flanges 17.

The supporting plate 10 of the closing device A is substantially identical in outline with the closure panel 15. In the embodiment described, the side edges 18 of the supporting plate 10 are dimensioned so that they may be positioned in substantial alignment with the side margin defining fold lines 19 of the closure panel 15. An illustration of the proper position of the plate 14) with respect to the closure panel 15 is shown in Fig. 2. Adjacent each side edge 18, an upstanding supporting bracket 20,-

having a horizontal portion 21 and a vertical portion 22, is provided. As best illustrated in Fig. 3, the supporting bracket 20 is secured to the upper face of the supporting plate 10 by means of threaded fastenings 23 which extend through the supporting plate 10 into openings (not shown) in the horizontal portion 21 of the supporting bracket 20. The fastenings 23 employ nuts 24 to permanently secure the brackets 29 in place. As best shown in Fig. 4, the vertical portion 22 of each supporting bracket 20 is provided with a tapped opening 25 adapted to receive a threaded bolt 26. A threaded nut 27 is pro vided to immovably secure the bolt 26 into the vertical portion 22. The bolt 26 is of sufiicient length to accombolt 26 in a vertical plane and in normal relation with respect to the plate 10. The distance between the head of the bolt 26 and the outer surface of the adjacent vertical portion 22 of the supporting bracket 20 is such that the retaining member 28 will not be frictionally held but will be free to pivot. It is preferred that the outer face of the vertical portion 22 be smooth and unobstructed so that there will be no chance of the retaining member 28 engaging against the vertical portion 22. For conven ience, a handle member 31 may be secured to the top surface of the supporting plate 10.

In the particular embodiment of the closing deviceA described, it has been found sufficient to provide one supporting bracket and connected retaining member 28 for each side edge 18 of the supporting plate 10. However, when the closing device A is employed with extremely large, heavy-duty containers, it may be desirable to employ two or more supporting brackets 20 and retaining members 28 for each side edge 18. Also, the length of the retaining members 28 may be varied. It'has been found that it is preferable if the rounded end portions 29 of the retaining members 28 extend below the mid-height of the closure flaps 15, however, any suitable length may be employed. A preferred length relationship is shown in Fig. 2. In the particular embodiment described it is important that the retaining members 28 do not extend down to the portion of the closure flaps transversed by the banding or strapping means 32.

One particular mode of employing the closing device A described is to place a hollow mandrel 33 into the tubular body structure 12 so as to maintain the side walls 13 in proper octagonal relationship throughout the closing operation. The side wall flaps 14 are then bent angularly outwardly as illustrated in Fig. 6. The closure cap 11 is then placed over the previously bent side wall flaps and the closing device A is placed over the closure cap 11 in registering relation to the closure panel 15. The inherent resiliency of the closure flaps 16 will cause them to remain in a substantially horizontal position, as shown in Fig. 6, thereby forcing the freely pivotable retaining members 28 into substantially horizontal relation as illustrated in Fig. 5. The operator then commences to fold closure flanges 17 inwardly into substantially contacting relation with the inner faces of the side wall flaps 14 and at the same time folding the closure flap 16 downwardly. A illustrated in Fig. 5, it is important that opposing pairs of the closure flaps 16 be folded at substantially the same time so that the closing device will, at all times, be maintained in proper alignment with respect to the closure cap 11. As each opposing pairof closure flaps 16 is positioned vertically downwardly, the force of gravity will cause the retaining members 28 to swing downwardly about the bolt 26 into vertical, retaining relationship. The process of manually positioning the closure flaps 16 and the closure flanges 17 is then repeated until all of the closure flaps are in position as shown in Fig. 2. At this stage of the closing process, each retaining member 28 will be positioned vertically downwardly and each adjacent closure flap 16 will be firmly held in position. The banding or strapping means 32 is then looped about the vertically disposed closure flaps and secured into position by means of a seal 34. However, any other preferred means of securely maintaining the closureflaps 16 into position may be employed. The closing device A may now be removed from the closure cap 11 and the mandrel 33 may be taken from the tubular body structure 12. If the particular type container being closed employs a bottom closure cap, the closing operation may be repeated.

The embodiment described is subject to modifications fallingwithin the spirit and scope of the invention.' For example, it may be desired to modify the supporting.

bracket 20 so that the vertical portion 22 is inverted .to extend downwardly in flatwise relation againstthe outer face of the side edges 18. With this particular modification, the threaded fastening 23 would extend into the supporting panel 10. Further, it may be desirable to modify the described configuration of the retaining member 28, for example, by flaring the rounded end portions to more firmly maintain the closure flap 16 in position. Flaring the rounded ends of the retaining members 28 has particular advantages in engaging relatively wide closure flaps. It is contemplated that these and other modifications falling within the spirit and scope of the invention will be encompassed by the claims next appearing.

What I claim is:

l. A closure flap holder for an upright container employing a top closure member having a multi-sided panel with foldably connected side flaps, the holder comprising a substantially horizontal supporting plate adapted to be positioned adjacent the upper face of the closure panel and having a plurality of flap retaining members with upper ends pivotally mounted on a horizontal, radially disposed axis, fixed to the supporting plate, each retaining member being adapted to be positioned substantially entirely within an upright plane containing the outer face of the adjacent closure flap in its closed position, the lower end of each flap retaining member being adapted to be disposed automatically downwardly by the force of gravity into flatwise, vertical, contacting and retaining relation against its adjacent closure flap from a retracted position in substantially coplanar relation with respect to the supporting plate.

2. A closure flap holder for an upright container employing a top closure member having a central, multisided panel with radially disposed, foldably connected flaps, the flap holder comprising a multi-sided supporting plate adapted to be positioned in registering relation against the upper face of the central closure'panel and having a plurality of flap retaining members with upper and lower ends, each retaining member being pivotally mounted on a horizontal axis, adjacent to and radially disposed with respect to the top of the supporting plate and adapted to be extended automatically downwardly by force of gravity to a position in contacting, retaimng relation against the adjacent closure flap in the closed position of the flap and retracted upwardly within a vertical plane containing the outer face of the said closed, adjacent closure flap to a position at least substantially in co-planar relation with respect to the supporting plate.

3. A closure flap holder for an upright container ernploying a top closure member having a multi-sided side panel with foldably connected side flaps, the holder comprising a relatively fiat supporting plate adapted to be positioned adjacent the upper face of the closure panel and having a plurality of flap retaining members with upper and lower ends, each retaining member being pivotally mounted to a radially disposed horizontal axis positioned adjacent the top of the supporting plate, the lower end of each retaining member being adapted to be swung automatically downwardly by force of gravity through a vertical plane containing the outer face of adjacent closure flap in its closed position and in contacting, retaining relation therewith, the lower end of each flap retaining member being retractable upwardly within said vertical plane to a position at least substantially in co-planar relation with respect to the supporting plate.

4. A closure flap holder for an upright container having a body with a plurality of connected together side walls and employing a top closure having a multi-sided panel with foldably connected side marginal flaps each adapted to be positioned downwardly in flatwise relation against an adjacent body side wall, the holder comprising a substantially flat, multi-sided supporting plate of substantially the same size and configuration as said top closure panel and adapted to be positioned in flatwise contacting relation with the upper face thereof, a plurality of vertically disposed closure flap retaining members each freely, pivotally mounted upon a substantially horizontally disposed axis positioned in normal, adjacent relation with respect to an adjacent supporting plate side edge and adapted to swing freely downwardly by force of gravity into contacting, retaining relation with its adjacent closure flap.

5. A closure flap holder for an upright container having a tubular body with a plurality of connected together side walls and employing a top closure member having a multisided center panel with foldably connected side marginal flaps adapted to be positioned vertically downwardly in flatwise relation against an adjacent body side wall, the closure flap holder comprising a multi-sided flat supporting plate of substantially the same size and configuration as said center closure panel and adapted to be positioned in flatwise, registering, contacting relation with the upper face thereof, a vertically disposed retaining member being positioned adjacent each supporting plate side and pivotally mounted on a horizontal, radially disposed axis fixed to said supporting plate and adapted to swing freely downwar'dly by force of gravity into contacting, retaining relation with its adjacent closure flap.

6. A closure flap holder for an upright container employing a top closure member having a multi-sided panel with foldably connected side flaps, the holder comprising a relatively flat supporting plate adapted to be positioned adjacent the upper face of the closure panel and having a plurality of flap retaining members with upper and lower portions, each retaining member being pivotally mounted to a. radially disposed, relatively horizontal axis fixed adjacent the supporting plate, the lower end of each retaining member being adapted to be normally disposed down- 15 2,175,656

wardly by the force of gravity in a contacting, retaining position against the adjacent closure flap in its closed position, the lower end of each retaining member being freely movable upwardly about the fixed axis into a position substantially in co-planar relation with the relatively flat supporting plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,351,809 Sutherland Sept. 7, 1920 1,642,665 Anshutz Sept. 20, 1927 1,647,073 Bergstein Oct. 25, 1927 1,871,765 Williamson Aug. 16, 1932 Annen Oct. 10, 1939 

